Mr.
Li
Human Limits
Mr. Li works for a medium size manufacturer located in Texas. Over the past five years, this company has increasingly sourced components and subassemblies with Chinese suppliers. A year ago, they hired Mr. Li, a Chinese national, to manage their outsourcing in China. Mr. Li is one of twelve people in their purchasing operations and the only one living in China. He is responsible for sourcing castings, fabricated assemblies, plastic moldings, printed circuit boards, electronic components, and many other items. Mr. Li has found sources for all of these goods, but many have run into quality and schedule problems.
Moral:
Don’t expect one foreigner to handle the workload you would spread
among many local employees. Mr. Li, no matter how skilled, cannot cover
a disparate set of commodities involving different manufacturing technologies
in a country as vast as China.